21/02/2025
Again about 5 and 5
Alexey Derevyankin
FROM THE EDITOR
There are many boat classes,and we talk about interesting projects that left a bright mark on the history of sailing on the pages of the magazine. Previously, we never returned to the boat classes we had already reviewed, but this time we made an exception. We already wrote about 5.5m in the third issue of ..Tarpon.. for 2016. The article
was based on the memoirs of the famous boat designer Viktor Vladimirovich Chaikin, and it mainly dealt with the history of the class in the USSR. We decided to continue the story ... after a letter from Finland.
The fact is that the Finnish yachtsman, measurer of classic boats Matti Muoniovaara is a big fan of the 5.5m class and has been working on a book on its history for many years. It is unthinkable not to touch on the USSR in it: almost every seventh boat built around the world was of Soviet production! But he has very little material. That is why,about six years ago, he approached the VFPS with a request to assist him in searching for information about 5.5m in the USSR. And he was very disappointed when the Federation replied that this topic was of no interest.
Matti sent his version of the register of Soviet boats of the 5.5m class to the editorial office, and we, having translated the names of the boats back into Russian, wanted to share it with the readers, and at the same time tell in more detail about the history of the class and its current state.
During the Second World War, the European fleet of meter classes, including the most popular 6mR and 8mR, fell into disrepair. Its restoration required considerable funds; in this situation, the International Yachting Racing Union (IYRU, now World Sailing) made a logical decision to develop a cheaper analogue. Strictly speaking, such a thing already existed: 5-meter boats were built according to the "meter" rule.
They were widespread in Scandinavia and Finland, but the class never received international status. The boats were close in size to the Dragon, but were significantly more expensive with no obvious advantages.
In November 1947, at the annual meeting of the IYRU in London, the "5.5-meter rule" proposed by British designers Charles Nicholson and Malden Hextaii-Smith was adopted. They based their formula on the international A-class rule developed by
Hextaii-Smith for yacht models back in 1922-23.
The general idea was the same as the "meter" rule, which governed the 5mR, 6mR, 8mR and similar classes. The rule was a certain function of the hull length, sail area and displacement, the value of which should not exceed a given value. After the amendments of 1949, the 5.5m formula took its modern form: photo 2
Where Lis the boat's length measured 82.5 mm above the waterline, Sis the sail area, D is the displacement converted from tons to cubic meters by dividing by the conventional density of sea water (1.025). The last two characteristics were additionally limited by the following limits:
26,5m²≤S≤29m²
1,7m³≤D≤2m³
Thus, the new class, like all other metre boats, was not a monotype, but a formula: designers could experiment with hull lines and armament, as long as the characteristics of their project fit into the formula.
The 5.5m boat turned out to be approxima tely twice as light as the "six" and, according ly, much cheaper. The first boat of the new class, "The Deb" (short for debutante), was designed in 1948 and built in 1949 by Nich olson himself at his shipyard Camper & Nich olsons. Unfortunately, this boat did not sur vive: in 1978, it was destroyed by a storm that tore it from its moorings and washed it asho re..
In 1949, the 5.5m was recognized by the IYRU as an international class, and in October of the following year it was approved as an
Olympic class, replacing the Swallow. The 5.5m was a good time in the 1950s. But by the early 1960s, being the largest Olympic class at the time, it seemed too expensive and archaic. The formula classes fell out of favor with sports officials: at that time, one design boats - small centerboard boats and light keelboats - were becoming increasingly popular. The situation was not saved by the "modernization" of the boat, which was ex pressed (like many other classes designed in the 40s and 50s or even before the Second World War) in the transition to aluminum rigging and synthetic sails at the turn of the 1950 's and 1960's.
The threat loomed not only over the 5.5m: in 1961, the IYRU plans to reform the Olympic program were announced, providing for the replacement of four of the five Olympic class es (the only exception was the newly introduc ed Flying Dutchman). The Finn and Zvezdny managed to hold on, albeit not without diffi culties: their stay in the Olympic program end ed in the 21st century. But the large keelboats -the "troikas" (5.5m and Dragon) were less fortunate: their place was taken by Soling. The last Olympics for the 5.5m class were the 1968 Olympics. After that, the racers' paths diverged: some switched from 5.5m to Soling, others were attracted by large cruising yachts competing for the Admiral's Cup, which was becoming increasingly popular in those years, and others ended their racing altogether. However, many continued to race on 5.5m.
Competitions continued, and the class rules changed regularly, allowing for the use of more modern materials and design solutions. Thus, in 1970, it was allowed to install the rudder separately from the keel, and a little later, the construction of fiberglass hulls was legalized. In the 90s, aluminum rigging gave way to carbon fiber, and polyester sail fabrics to Kevlar and carbon fiber. The opportunity to experiment with hull contours stimulated design interest. In the 70s, many new designs appeared that were noticeably different from the classic 5.5-meter boats of the 50s and
60s. The real revolution was made by the boat "Chlika-Chlika", launched in Switzerland in 1990: attention of racers and specialists
were attracted by the radically new hull shape and the keel with Whitcomb wings and trimmer. The design really turned out to be successful: the boat won the world championship twice in a row, in 1991 and 1992.
8 separate classifications: Classic -for boats built no later than 1969, Evolution {1970-1995) and Modern (since 1994). In addition to the year of construction, additional restrictions appeared in the
Classic and Evolution divisions. For example, Classic boats were prohibited from using carbon fiber rigging, installing a rudder
separately from the keel and a keel with wings.
Some successful 5.5m projects continued their life as independent monotype classes. For example, in 1961, the Daring class was designed in Great Britain based on the boat "Vision", the silver medalist of the 1956 Olympics. These boats were produced until
1992, and although only 37 were built, almost all of them are still racing today. And the boat "Carina" gave birth to two American projects at once: the racing Columbia 5.5 and the cruising Sabre with a wheelhouse.
Until 1968, when the 5.5m lost its Olympic status, about 650 boats were launched. After that, the fleet was replenished at a more modest pace: over the entire 75-year history of the class, about 800 boats were built, of which about 450 have survived.
Recently, an average of one 5.5-meter boat has been built worldwide per year. The probable reason limiting the development of the class is the price: a new boat in full configuration will cost about 250 thousand euros. The largest number of 5.5m (100 pennants) is now in Switzerland and Germany. These boats are raced in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Poland, Austria, Italy, Greece, Australia, the USA, the Bahamas and Canada.
I will dwell in more detail on some regattas and racers. The 5.5m class was included in the program of five Olympics. The most successful crews were from Sweden (two gold, one silver and one bronze medals) and the USA (two gold and two bronze). Today, the main competition of the class is the World Championship, which has been held annually since 1961 and recently brings together 25-30, and sometimes up to 40 boats. The last championship was played in August-September in Benodet (France): out of 29 boats, nine competed in the Evolution division and two in the Classic. By the way, the Evolution classification was won by Chlika-Chlika under the new name Chlika Chlika-Chlika »It stood abandoned for over 25 years, and was recently restored.
Another interesting regatta is the Scandinavian Gold Cup, founded in 1919. It is probably one of the oldest annual sailing competitions. However, in the first years of its existence, the cup was contested in other boat classes: first twicw with 40 sqm skerry cruisers, then in 6-metres. The "six" was replaced by 5.5-metre in 1953. An interesting feature of the cup: as at the Olympics, each country can be represented by one yacht only.
Most regattas are open to boats of all years of construction, but there are also separate cups for the Classic and Evolution divisions. I will tell you separately about the Enoshima Cup, a kind of "time machine" that takes racers back to the 60's. Only boats that
comply with the class rules of those years are allowed to participate in this regatta; the 1a minute starting procedure and triangular distance adopted at that time are used in the races, and points are calculated according to the old logarithmic system used until the mid-60's.
In 2012, the S.Sm entered the Vintage Yachting Games program. This regatta is held in the boat classes that were formerly Olympic. 14 crews from seven countries gathered on Lake Como, only boats of the Classic division were allowed.
Browsing through the lists of winners and prize-winners of major competitions, you can find many yachtsmen known for their outstanding results in other classes. Thus, three-time Olympic champion in the Finn and Soling, German Jochen Schumann, won the 5.5m World Championship twice, which he switched to after Soling. Olympic champion in the Finn, Polish Mateusz Kusznierewicz, also became world champion in the 5.5m. The famous American media mogul Ted Turner, whom sailing fans primarily know as the winner of the America·s Cup (1977), was a winner and multiple prize-winner of world championships in the 70s. Well, the most successful racer in the 5.5m class, Norwegian Kristian Nergaard, became world champion 11 times in 1990-2020! Age is no obstacle: at the last World Championships, Nergaard came in second, although he is now over sixty.
I will name two more interesting names: in the 70s, King Olav V of Norway won bronze at the World Championships twice at the helm
of "Bingo II". His son Harald (then Crown Prince, now King) won two silver medals at the World Championships in the same years. He participated in the Olympics twice on 5.5m, but was unable to rise higher than 8th place there. Both father and son were presidents of the International 5.5m Class Association at different times; Harald V currently holds the post of its honorary president. I will finish the article with a story about the history of 5.5m in our country. In the Soviet Union, the construction of these boats began in the 50s. They were mainly manufactured by the Leningrad Shipyard of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and the Tallinn Experimental Shipyard of Sports Shipbuilding. According to some sources, several examples were built in Riga, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don and at the Lazarevskaya shipyard near Sochi. Over 15 years, Soviet shipyards produced about a hundred boats. Imported boats were also purchased for leading racers.
The authors of the Soviet projects were famous designers and racers P. Butte, V. Vasiliev, T. Veide, N. Grigoriev, N. Ermakov, B. Mirokhin, M. Portsel, A. Tetsman, V. Chaikin... But perhaps the best project was that of Anatoly Kiselev, who worked at the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions shipyard. The collection "Boats and Yachts" wrote about the Baltic Regatta of 1962 as follows: "Several crews competed on the new boats of the Leningrad designer A.P. Kiselev, which had already proven themselves to be the best in the races at the Black Sea Regatta (May 1962). Leningraders S. Malygin, L. Dmitriev and K. Bekhterev easily got away from other vessels on these boats when tacking."
It is worth remembering that Kiselev also owned a very successful project of the national class "L-6", according to which about a hundred boats were built in the 60-70s. Many of them are still in service today.
The strongest Soviet 5.5m helmsmen throughout the 1950s and 1960s was four time Olympic participant Konstantin Aleksandrov from the CSK VMF: he won 12 of the 16 USSR championships held in 1953-1968 (Aieksandrov became national champion twice in other classes: L-3 and L-4). He also achieved success in the international arena: Aleksandrov's crew brought home silver at the first European Championship, held in 1968 in Switzerland on Lake Neuchatel. His boat did not win any prizes at the World Championships or Olympic Games, but in 1962 Aleksandrov came fourth among 23 participants in the World Championship. The second Soviet crew with helmsman Viktor Gorlov took 7th
place (according to other sources, 9th) in that regatta. Both Aleksandrov and Gorlov raced on Kiselev's boats. The designer was so happy with this success that he organized a buffet for the builders of these boats and the designers who helped him in his work, right on the lawn of the Central Yacht Club.
After its withdrawal from the Olympic program, the 5.5m class was immediately liquidated in our country. Competitions were no longer held, construction of new boats ceased, and existing examples were either written off and destroyed, or converted into cruising boats. "Boats and Yachts" even published a couple of projects for such a conversion: "The "Pyaterka" is transformed into a cruiser" is the characteristic title of one of the articles published in 1970.
Some of the converted examples have survived, although the youngest of them will soon be 60 years old. There are almost a dozen of them in St. Petersburg alone; however, only two are currently operational. Arizona captain Andrei Polyakov said that he picked up this boat at a dump in 1996. The restoration work took seven years, but did not begin immediately and was intermittent, so Arizona was only launched in 2018. Since then, it can be seen regularly on the water. Eos is also in service, although it remained on shore during the past navigation season. The rest of St. Petersburg's 5.5-meter boats are either abandoned and slowly deteriorating, or mothballed, or undergoing restoration. For example, in Kronstadt, the Neman, built in 1962 in Leningrad, has been under repair for a long time: Kronstadt racer V. Listopadov won 2nd place in the USSR Championship on it in 1965. Surviving examples of the converted 5.5m can be found in other cities of Russia and the post-Soviet space.
The author thanks Mikhail Kamensky and Andrey Polyakov for their help in preparing the article.
